FISA adopts new constitution

The Fiduciary Institute of South Africa (FISA) has adopted a new constitution which means that FISA will now be driven by individual members as opposed to corporate members.

Speaking at a special general meeting in Johannesburg on 2 December, FISA Chairman John Gibson said the resolution on a new constitution was passed unanimously with no abstentions.

“This is an important step forward”, said Gibson, “as it reflects FISA’s rapid growth. Whereas the 21 corporate members were needed to drive the initial growth of the institute, we have now democratised the structure so that all 600 members’ voting rights are equal.”

The new FISA constitution allows the following:

* the council (previously the executive committee) will be elected by individual members, not by the corporate entities
* each of the five FISA regions will have a committee and not just a chairperson
* regional members will appoint a regional committee
* regional structures will be formalised by means of regional rules and regulations
* a CEO may be appointed if needed

Commenting on the development of regional structures, Mr Gibson said that this was an important part of FISA’s vision of uplifting fiduciary standards across the entire country.

Atpresent FISA does not have permanent office nor full-time employees but this could change in due course, said Mr Gibson. At that stage it might be possible to elect a CEO and support staff.